10 Ways Your Personality Type Affects Your Income & How To Stop It From Interfering
10 Ways Your Personality Type Affects Your Income & How To Stop It From Interfering
Is The One Holding You Back From Your Earning Potential Yourself?
It's easy to assume your income is solely a product of education, experience, and market demand, but there are other factors at play. Namely, the subtle, subconscious aspects of your personality. If you've ever taken a personality test that broke your whole nuanced and complex self into a four-letter acronym, you should know what we mean. From the way you approach people in conversations to how you handle challenges, your natural "self" can mean the tens of thousands of dollars difference between your salary and that of your extroverted, risk-taking co-worker. Here are 10 ways your personality may be holding you back from that upper-tier position and 10 ways to stop it from interfering, according to psychologists.
1. Extroversion
Statistics have found time and again a positive correlation between extroversion and income. This is because extroversion is more often associated with traits like leadership, building networks, and assertiveness which are necessary for negotiating salaries and promotions.
2. Agreeableness
Although agreeableness is generally considered a positive attribute for cooperation and just being an all-around pleasant person, it isn't necessarily great in the work world. In fact, being too agreeable can reflect poorly on your income as it tends to correlate to less aggressive negotiation skills.
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3. Conscientiousness
Unsurprisingly, being conscientious, or caring about the quality of the work you do, is correlated with higher salaries.
Someone who is conscientious tends to be well-organized, disciplined, and responsible which correlates to better job performance.
4. Persistence
Persistence helps people achieve their long-term goals because they can stick with things, even when it's tough. This allows them to stay in demanding roles, bounce back from failures, and eventually earn more.
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5. Openness
People who are more open to new experiences, curious, and imaginative tend to have higher salaries. Openness usually means you're willing to adapt and are better at thinking outside the box.
6. Risk Taking
The image in your mind of a risk-taker might look like the classic leather jacket-wearing "bad boy," but that may have to be updated to someone wearing an immaculate suit. Risk-taking has been associated with high salaries as entrepreneurship and investment roles usually require good risk tolerance.
7. Assertiveness
Assertiveness isn't always considered the most positive trait because it's often synonymous with being aggressive or arrogant. However, when it comes to scoring a high-earning profession, it's a positive attribute as the professional world is a rather competitive place and you have to be somewhat assertive to get ahead.
8. Neuroticism
Neuroticism is the tendency to be highly emotional, and get stressed out, angry, and sad easily. Being emotional is a normal part of being human, but unfortunately, in the professional world, being emotional is seen as a weakness because it makes you seem unstable or unreliable.
9. Confidence
It's all about the "fake it 'til you make it" mentality. Confidence is key to bagging a high-salary profession, even if you feel like an imposter because part of landing a good job is just being able to sell yourself and your abilities well.
10. Competitiveness
We live in a capitalist society where competitiveness is still key to success in the corporate world. This is particularly true in roles like sales and finance.
Now that we've talked about some of the personality traits that are most correlated with income, let's talk about what you can do to make your unique traits work for you.
1. Develop Emotional Intelligence
A good way to combat neuroticism is to develop emotional intelligence through practices like meditation, therapy, and journaling. This will help you identify your triggers and develop coping mechanisms that will help you manage your emotions better. Not only will this help you become a happier, more balanced person, but it will help you in your professional life too.
2. Practice Assertiveness
Practicing assertiveness doesn't mean to suddenly become aggressive. It means saying "no" as a complete answer, preparing for negotiations, standing your ground, and setting boundaries.
3. Adapt Your Communication Style
Whether you're an extreme extrovert or the ultimate introvert, it's beneficial to learn how to adapt to different communication styles, especially if you're working within a team.
Identify your own style as well as others so that you can be the most effective team player.
4. Leverage Your Strengths
Know your strengths and how to leverage them. For example, extroverts are usually excellent networkers, presenters, and salespeople, while introverts are best at analytical thinking, jobs that require deep concentration, and thoughtful decision-making.
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5. Practice Self-Reflection
Whether through journaling, meditation, or talking to yourself, self-reflection is the first step to understanding your personality, and in turn, the areas you can improve in. Only then can you develop coping mechanisms and start practicing ways to get stronger.
6. Seek Feedback
Ask your trusted colleagues, friends, and mentors how you come across. Whether you come across as too accommodating or too obnoxious, it will help you on your path to self-discovery and growth to know the difference and what actions give that impression.
7. Find A Mentor
Find a mentor who you believe to have exceptional professional skills, especially in the areas where you find yourself lacking. Ask them for advice and look up to them for motivation.
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8. Practice Networking
Practice really does make perfect in all aspects of life. If you're an introvert, chances are you dread networking events but go anyway. Sign up to every one of them and before you know it, mingling with strangers will feel effortless.
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9. Build New Habits
As humans, we can form a habit out of everything. This extends to your personality which was created by what you grew familiar with as a child anyway. We're not saying to change your personality or to be fake, but there are little habits you can incorporate that will ensure you're not being held back by any aspect of your personality.
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10. Create Goals
If you're fine with where you are in your professional life, there's no reason to change, but if you have bigger and better things in your sights, it will motivate you to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Create goals for yourself and a road path for how to get there, focusing especially on how your traits could be holding you back and what you can do to change.
